mini-live from the Grand Princess: first Hawaiian sailing post covid--Jan 4-19, 2022

[SteamboatWillie118]

@travelin.sisters - thank you so much for all your efforts in giving us a glimpse of cruising these days 🙂

Do you happen to know if passengers who test positive remain isolated for the entire rest of the cruise, or does it make a difference if they have/had symptoms or not, or later retest negative?! I'm imagining 12 days stuck in the cabin... ugh..

[travelin.sisters]

1 hour ago, SteamboatWillie118 said:

@travelin.sisters - thank you so much for all your efforts in giving us a glimpse of cruising these days 🙂

Do you happen to know if passengers who test positive remain isolated for the entire rest of the cruise, or does it make a difference if they have/had symptoms or not, or later retest negative?! I'm imagining 12 days stuck in the cabin... ugh..

on our cruise it was 10 days & they did not retest them, possibly it would be longer if they were still having symptoms, but the one person who shared their experience did not really have symptoms as I understand it

 

[kiwimum]

On our October cruise we took a wine tasting tour to the Guadalupe Valley.  A great tour of the wonderful valley and a couple of nice vineyards.  We bought a case of wine at the 2nd vineyard.

 

On the way home to San Diego I had a slight pain in my side.   Thursday was not

much better, Friday a visit to the ER followed by surgery.   Ruptured appendix.   Thankful for the quick work of Naval Hospital.   Home tomorrow.  More than thankful it did not happen on the ship.   Medical insurance is a must.

 

[travelin.sisters]

25 minutes ago, kiwimum said:

On our October cruise we took a wine tasting tour to the Guadalupe Valley.  A great tour of the wonderful valley and a couple of nice vineyards.  We bought a case of wine at the 2nd vineyard.

 

On the way home to San Diego I had a slight pain in my side.   Thursday was not

much better, Friday a visit to the ER followed by surgery.   Ruptured appendix.   Thankful for the quick work of Naval Hospital.   Home tomorrow.  More than thankful it did not happen on the ship.   Medical insurance is a must.

 

oh dear, hope you recover quickly!

 

[azbirdmom]

3 hours ago, kiwimum said:

On our October cruise we took a wine tasting tour to the Guadalupe Valley.  A great tour of the wonderful valley and a couple of nice vineyards.  We bought a case of wine at the 2nd vineyard.

 

On the way home to San Diego I had a slight pain in my side.   Thursday was not

much better, Friday a visit to the ER followed by surgery.   Ruptured appendix.   Thankful for the quick work of Naval Hospital.   Home tomorrow.  More than thankful it did not happen on the ship.   Medical insurance is a must.

 

 

Oh my.  Sure glad it didn't happen while you were cruising.  Hope you recover quickly!

[travelin.sisters]

OTHER THOUGHTS

 

So, we’ve been home a week today & I meant to follow-up with some more detail on a few things, but we got an email with a "too good to miss" offer on a Mexican Riviera cruise that leaves on Saturday so have been busy with laundry, repacking, getting covid tests arranged etc.  I don’t know if anyone is still interested but now that those are done, thought I would share a few thoughts.

 

We had a great trip; it was very different than our last cruise which was the same itinerary (except stopping at Lahaina in Maui) on the Ruby in April 2019. Cruising is always different, the captain, CE, ED & crew in general make each sailing different. One great crew member can really make a trip special. This trip we met so many people who worked hard to make things go smoothly. Even though crew were shuffled around from position to position throughout the cruise they went out of their way to take good care of everyone. 

 

We left home when port agreements were still not set & realized that not everything might work. We actually discussed & agreed that we would be ok if we got to Hawai’i & did not get to go ashore, we were ready to be back afloat! I think in these uncertain times you have to sail expecting the unexpected (well you always do, we have had ports canceled due to earthquake damage, flooding, tropical storms in the past) & enjoy what is possible…if that doesn’t work for you, then maybe now is not the best time to cruise because people will ge sick (maybe even you), things will get canceled (even at the last minute) & cruising is not the same (not worse, necessarily, just different).

 

Hawai’i was beautiful & the people we met were gracious & welcoming, but they have reasonable concerns. They have limited resources & can’t handle overwhelming numbers of cases. I hope that everyone who sails (or travels in general) to Hawai’i will be as gracious, generous guests as they were (& will be) hosts…follow their rules, tell the truth about your risks/exposures & understand that like the rest of us they are doing their best in uncertain circumstances. Princess did do a good job making sure we were able to comply with the changing regulations to disembark in Hawai’i even though they way the communicate (or not) with passengers can lead to a lot of frustration & confusion.

 

If you do decide a Hawai’ian (or other) cruise is right for you now; go with a flexible attitude, a gracious heart towards those who help you & sail alongside you & have a lovely time. If you decide now is not the right time (or circumstances/health decide for you), know that a lot of people are working hard to make sure that there is better sailing ahead.

 

OK enough waxing philosophical, I will be back with posts about food, covid stuff onboard & electronics before I close this out…mahalo for following & all the comments, Kathy

[NikiPinkston]

I just wanted to add my thanks for bringing us along on your journey, Kathy.  We're on the POA in November (after 4 cancellations) & I was anxious to hear all about the first cruise to Hawaii, and I appreciate your insights, your lovely attitude, and your sharing your journey with us.  My hubby is a San Pedro native & we lived in the area for many years until we retired, so just knowing that you're from Pedro added a bit more fun for me.  We've never sailed on Princess but you've inspired us to book a Hawaii cruise from the Port of L.A. some day.  We sailed out of Pedro on the NCL Bliss to Mexico over Christmas and it felt so comforting & familiar to be in that port again.  Thank you so much again, and have a fabulous time in Mexico! 

[travelin.sisters]

47 minutes ago, NikiPinkston said:

I just wanted to add my thanks for bringing us along on your journey, Kathy.  We're on the POA in November (after 4 cancellations) & I was anxious to hear all about the first cruise to Hawaii, and I appreciate your insights, your lovely attitude, and your sharing your journey with us.  My hubby is a San Pedro native & we lived in the area for many years until we retired, so just knowing that you're from Pedro added a bit more fun for me.  We've never sailed on Princess but you've inspired us to book a Hawaii cruise from the Port of L.A. some day.  We sailed out of Pedro on the NCL Bliss to Mexico over Christmas and it felt so comforting & familiar to be in that port again.  Thank you so much again, and have a fabulous time in Mexico! 

thank you

[travelin.sisters]

FOOD & DINING

 

In general, I think Princess does a good job of feeding passengers well. Is it the best food I’ve had? No (maybe not even the best food I’ve had at sea) but there are enough options that there is food I can enjoy anytime I want to eat. That said, here are some thoughts & experiences of the dining on our Hawai’I cruise.

 

My number one favorite food place on this cruise was the International Café. It makes me a little sad to realize how many cruises I took before I “discovered” the International Cafes on Princess ships. Ankit & Allen (& anyone else who served us there were so kind & happily gave me Peanut Butter cookies to take to my room for later every day (even if they don’t have a sign for Peanut Butter cookies—the best of the bunch—ask because they often have a few in the back). They have a nice selection of breakfast items (burritos, egg muffins, pastry, fruit) & then later lunch/dinner (cold or panini-ed sandwiches, salads & desserts) it’s the perfect place for a quick snack, meal or extra dessert anytime they are open (usually 24/7 but it was 6am-1am on our cruise).

 

Breakfast was always (except for the one day in quarantine with the sad room service meal (posts #322 & 335) was always the buffet. I have done the occasional dining room breakfast in the past but really like the made to order omelet (much fresher & tastier than the premade ones from the steam table), crispy bacon (they have it if you ask), hashbrowns, fresh pineapple (I love that they serve each type of fruit separately in individual servings now), juice (pick it up in the buffet or a server will bring it to you) & a pastry (the chocolate croissants are the best). There were a lot more options for breakfast…waffles, French toast, pancakes, ham, oatmeal, congee, cold cereal, fresh & dried fruit, meat, cheese, bagels, toast & much more(pix in post #54). One strange thing is they always had a lot of different shrimp cocktails at breakfast (left over from the dinner buffet?)

 

The buffet did not have many sandwich options & my sister with pepper allergies had trouble finding something to eat many days, but they did have a wide variety of choices. I feel like the dining room lunch is too slow (1.5 to 2 hours) & it interfered with ‘ukulele class so we only did it a few times…IMHO the embarkation day lunch (post #4)—which always makes me feel like the cruise has actually started—is the only dining room lunch I really make an effort for). Slice pizzas on the Lido deck are fast & tasty (pepperoni & margarita everyday & then a special of the day). Salty Dog Grill is slow even with our limited number of passengers. Twice the item I ordered was missing part ingredients (onion marmalade on the BLT & slaw on the BBQ sandwich), but the food was pretty good; my sister really liked the chicken sandwich & BIL the hot dogs (post # 68). We did not make it to Alfredo’s this trip.

 

We went to tea twice. It is not so exciting, like a high tea, but an enjoyable experience. There were tea sandwich options (ham, turkey, egg salad), cookies, little cakes, tea & scones (the best part!) with jam & clotted cream. They come around with trays of each & you can chose what they will serve you (pix post #336).

 

Dinner was in the MDR (except for quarantine & Sabatini’s) we like having the same waitstaff because of our allergies (shellfish for me & peppers for my sister) & because you only have to tell them your preferences (2 rolls with dinner please, beverages etc) once & they will remember the whole cruise!!! I am always amazed by the quality of the waitstaff in Princess dining rooms (the food may not be as great as at the best of restaurants but the staff certainly is). This cruise we had a great team in the Da Vinci dining room, Francisco & Tony were awesome. For about 5 days in the middle of the cruise Francisco was apparently assigned to other venues & we had other waiters, but Tony still made sure that we got the things that we expected & were taken good care of. We also had 3 different head waiters helping with allergy orders throughout our cruise.

 

I think if you are used to really good fine dining, Princess will not always live up to that, but we are only occasional fine dining people & for the past two years have basically eaten what we cook or occasionally have delivered, so we really enjoyed the food. My BIL was delighted by the variety & quality of the seafood on this cruise. My sister who loves the fetuccini alfredo thought it was as good as ever & had it several times. I liked the French onion soup enough to order it 3 or 4 times during the cruise. There was a good variety & always something interesting to choose. I felt like their beef was not as good as it has been, some was quite good but other times it tasted like it had been steamed or sous vied. The rolls are still wonderful & the desserts were as amazing as always. I especially liked that they had a different sorbet each night (nice when you don’t want the heavy chocolate journey dessert). We all agreed that the rack of pork was excellent. I think I have never actually been to the buffet for dinner on a Princess ship, but the night I was in quarantine I didn’t really want another sandwich (& didn’t know I could order from a restaurant) so my sister went and got me an assortment of choices, the tri-tip she brought back was among the best beef I had on the cruise.

 

This cruise was our first time at Sabatini’s (pix post #297) thanks to our TA & it was very good. I didn’t love the pork tenderloin entrée (thought it was a little strange) but everything else was delicious. I would go again just for the rolls with the rosemary & butter warmed in them. My BIL said the calamari was much better than in the MDR. I did wish I ordered the chef’s special dessert (small sampler sizes of all 4 desserts instead of one big one I couldn’t finish.

 

I have posted a lot of food pictures already but will add a few more.

[travelin.sisters]

more food pictures

[kiwimum]

I agree with your comment on the prosciutto wrapped pork tenderloin in Sabatinis 

disgusting, swimming in a broth like boiled meat.   I sent mine back.    Even my replacement Lemon and Rosemary Chicken was not as described.  If you ever sail the Ruby try it again.  prosciutto   nice and crispy, tenderloin actually stuffed and cooked perfectly, crispy potatoes, perfect.   
 

We dine at least twice a cruise in Sabatinis but the Grand was a miss.

[travelin.sisters]

2 minutes ago, kiwimum said:

I agree with your comment on the prosciutto wrapped pork tenderloin in Sabatinis 

disgusting, swimming in a broth like boiled meat.   I sent mine back.    Even my replacement Lemon and Rosemary Chicken was not as described.  If you ever sail the Ruby try it again.  prosciutto   nice and crispy, tenderloin actually stuffed and cooked perfectly, crispy potatoes, perfect.   
 

We dine at least twice a cruise in Sabatinis but the Grand was a miss.

thank you for the recommendation, it sounded so good on the menu. hope you are recovering!!

 

[kiwimum]

34 minutes ago, travelin.sisters said:

thank you for the recommendation, it sounded so good on the menu. hope you are recovering!!

 

Thanks, discharged yesterday now recuperating at home.  Missing the golf at Torrey Pines, TV will have to do this year.

 

Breakfast burrito from IC is also to be avoided.  Sounded good and was small in size.   The photo says it all.

 

Edited January 26, 2022 by kiwimum

[travelin.sisters]

22 minutes ago, kiwimum said:

Thanks, discharged yesterday now recuperating at home.  Missing the golf at Torrey Pines, TV will have to do this year.

 

Breakfast burrito from IC is also to be avoided.  Sounded good and was small in size.   The photo says it all.

 

oh my! I don't like breakfast burritos so never tried it...will stick to the omelets...take good care of yourself & give yourself time to recover

 

[cr8tiv1]

@travelin.sistersDear Kathy, Thank you so very much for all of your posts and philosophical wisdom.  I especially appreciated your comment regarding respecting the Hawaiian Culture and its people.  The Aloha Spirit is still alive on the islands and I am so glad it has found a home with you.

 

Enjoy your next cruise.  You are fortunate to be able to jump on a cruise that is footsteps away from your home.  

[travelin.sisters]

4 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

@travelin.sistersDear Kathy, Thank you so very much for all of your posts and philosophical wisdom.  I especially appreciated your comment regarding respecting the Hawaiian Culture and its people.  The Aloha Spirit is still alive on the islands and I am so glad it has found a home with you.

 

Enjoy your next cruise.  You are fortunate to be able to jump on a cruise that is footsteps away from your home.  

Thank you for your kind words. I so appreciate all your support & information in this thread & throughout the forum, you are a wonderful ambassador of the Aloha Spirit. 

[travelin.sisters]

DIGITAL (MEDALLION, INTERNET, TVS ETC)

 

This was our first medallion class cruise so there was a whole lot of change, some of it good & some not so. I felt like there was a lot of trying to figure out where/how to do something that I used to know exactly how to do.

 

Starting with getting ready for the cruise; I had done all our check in when we booked almost 2 years ago, but then as it came time to actually get ready, much of that had to be redone because it has moved to the app. It feels hard to be sure that you have done everything you need to because there are some things that are only done on the app & some that are only done on the computer in the personalizer. I did not have the same kind of extended problems with the app that I have read about from other members, but there were glitches. It took a lot more time & effort to get my party of 3 ready to board than it ever has. It would be nice if Princess could set things up so that all of the cruise prep could be done EITHER in the app OR on the website.

 

As we were on our way to board there was an older couple who was so stressed because they did not have boarding passes (which you can no longer print) but they were taken care of at the port. The new (& at the time we sailed, brand new) Hawai’i QR codes & entry requirements were very hard for people & many had trouble finding someone on board to help them figure it out.

 

Boarding with the medallion was a breeze! The new muster drill was wonderful & so easy (I remember actually having to stand in a line outside by the lifeboats/tenders while they demonstrated & made us practice putting on your life vest!). I loved having our doors unlock (& welcome us) as we approached & not having to pull out a cruise card. It was also very easy to have the medallion programmed to open multiple doors (rather than getting duplicate cards as in the past). For the door there are icons to touch if you need service (puts a green bar on at the top of the screen) & if you don’t want to be disturbed (red bar). Passenger names also appear on these screens.

 

It is interesting that some places they know who you are if you are nearby (I was at the International Café getting my nightly cookies & the guy in the coffee shop next to it offered me a free hot chocolate for my birthday) but other times (MDR, CS desk) you had to touch the medallion to a screen. Speaking of touching the medallion to a screen, I ordered several different holders on Amazon & the one with crystals around the edges interfered with touching the screen but not with opening the doors.

 

The app/or screens worked pretty well. Many of the features of the app, you can access through the screens (located by all the elevators & elsewhere around the ship). It was fun to see birthday greetings pop on the screens as we passed by. They also have the daily schedule (journey view) & games you can play.

 

Journey View, in my mind, is so hard to use that it is almost worthless. You have to scroll up & down to see everything happening at one time & then side to side to see what is happening through out the day. The old digital schedule (which I did accidentally find on the on-ship website…grand.princess.com) is much better & fortunately they are still printing a one-page patter with the day’s events. The only good thing I found about Journey View is you can look ahead to see what is happening later in your cruise (subject to change) or even before you go. You can bookmark things (this does not count as signing up) that you might like to do but it does not give you any reminders of those (you can, however, have it show just your chosen events…so less scrolling).

 

It is also nice to be able to access menus on the app & signing up for dining times worked well for me (I would highly recommend signing up for a time rather than just trying to drop in as we saw many people having to wait extended times for a table or being told to return after a certain time). When ordering food on the app or TV screen, it seemed like there were a lot of layers that made it more tedious than it needed to be, I even accidentally deleted my whole order one time & had to redo it.

 

Sometimes the feature to find a travel companion was off for the exact location, but it was nice to be able to see if they were in their rooms or out & about. Messaging worked better than the previous version, with notifications popping up on our phones.

 

Both the app & the TV have a lot of layers so it can be hard to figure out where to find what you want to do. There is a LOT available in both the app & on the TV & worth the time to go through all the layers of menus to see what is available. There are a lot of movies & TV shows available. It is so nice that the port & enrichment talks are later available on the TVs (in My Cruise). Some of my favorite things on the TV were the Princess Sleep Program (in My Cruise), weather & location (in Princess Patter). The Live Ship Camera is in Live TV under Movies & TV. My BIL loved having so many movie & TV options & watched a lot of shows.

 

I got the 4-device plan for WiFi & was able to share it with anyone I wanted. With the Platinum discount it was very reasonable for all of us to have unlimited WiFi this way. The connection seemed very stable & good. I was able to stream Zoom church services & breakout rooms without problems at sea & had no problems with anything else I wanted to do on the internet. I did have to help my sister reconnect her phone to the web several times during the cruise. The app is slow at times & but no slower than at home with my good internet.

 

There is a lot to like about the medallion changes, but there are still too many frustrations that make it harder to use than it needs to be. Sometimes it feels like a “donkey created by a committee”…lots of good ideas but not always good execution.

[CAZephyr]

6 hours ago, kiwimum said:

Thanks, discharged yesterday now recuperating at home.  Missing the golf at Torrey Pines, TV will have to do this year.

 

Breakfast burrito from IC is also to be avoided.  Sounded good and was small in size.   The photo says it all.

 

Eeeww!

 

[Desert Cruisers]

Currently on the Grand. Food is “just okay”. “Healthy eating “options limited.  No supply chain problems for sugar, white pasta, white rice, and potatoes.  
 

No embarkation day lunch in MDR. No explanation given. 

[cr8tiv1]

@travelin.sistersYou have mentioned grand.princess.com several times...I have tried and I just get a system error message.  Just what is grand.princess.com?  Thanks.

 

@Desert CruisersThat's disappointing that there was no lunch in the MDR on embarkation day.  Hmmmmm

[travelin.sisters]

13 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

@travelin.sistersYou have mentioned grand.princess.com several times...I have tried and I just get a system error message.  Just what is grand.princess.com?  Thanks.

 

grand(or whatever ship you are on).princess.com (or .net I think) is the onboard intranet...so before medallion you could get on the web & do on ship things like message passengers & they allowed some websites without internet like princess.com & you could see the daily schedule it only works when you are on the ship

 

Edited January 27, 2022 by travelin.sisters

[travelin.sisters]

door screens--empty room, unlocked, privacy please, service please

[travelin.sisters]

display screens: happy birthday, interactive floor plan, journey view (schedule), games

[caribill]

7 hours ago, travelin.sisters said:

The new muster drill was wonderful & so easy (I remember actually having to stand in a line outside by the lifeboats/tenders while they demonstrated & made us practice putting on your life vest!).

 

Not on Princess where the muster drill has been held inside for at least the last 30 years.

 

But it has been outside for us on other lines such as RCI, CCL, and HAL.

[azbirdmom]

13 hours ago, travelin.sisters said:

grand(or whatever ship you are on).princess.com (or .net I think) is the onboard intranet...so before medallion you could get on the web & do on ship things like message passengers & they allowed some websites without internet like princess.com & you could see the daily schedule it only works when you are on the ship

 

 

That was our go to location for checking the schedule and menus while on the Majestic last August.  I agree with you (and it was one of the many comments on my post-cruise survey) - Journey View needs a lot of work to make it user friendly.  Thanks again for sharing your cruise with us!